Today marks the 20th anniversary of Michael Jordan‘s (first) NBA return. I’m delighted to welcome back Luc Longley to the podcast. We discuss his recollections of the hoopla surrounding MJ’s return to the Chicago Bulls, following Jordan’s 1993 retirement.

This conversation is much more than simply chatting about Jordan’s comeback. We also delve deeper into Luc’s career with the Bulls and reminisce about some of Chicago’s memorable playoff series’, versus:

Further, I share my story about meeting Luc in 1991 and he talks fondly about the friendships he developed playing alongside memorable teammates, including Bill Cartwright, John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong. We find time to talk about his assistant coaching role with the Australian Boomers, the future of basketball in Australia and the importance of players like Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Dante Exum.

We also reference a great article that recently appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, titled, “Luc Longley – from running with the Chicago Bulls to falling in love with basketball again”. You can read the feature here (written by David Sygall).

Oh, and Luc totally tricks me into believing a ludicrous story about Jordan, that somehow I didn’t even bat an eyelid at. This is a really enjoyable chat.

We chat about those responsible for fostering our respective love for the game of basketball. Primarily, we talk about the golden era of not only the NBA, but commentary, too. This episode is littered with sound-bites from some of the most-iconic commentators the game has ever known. We primarily focus on the time-frame 1984 to 1998. We know you’ll enjoy this audible trip down memory lane.

In this episode, we break down the NBA’s thirty-fifth All-Star Game. The game was played at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana, in-front of a then-record NBA crowd of 43,146. We were fortunate to have access to the game DVD, giving us plenty of topics and moments to talk about, including the alleged ‘freeze-out’ of Michael Jordan, supposedly led by Isiah Thomas.

We chat about Alex English and his humanitarian efforts. Following encouragement from Alex, his fellow stars donated their game payments to an Ethiopian relief effort. The game itself was played at a fast pace, led by perennial All-Stars, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon – who finished with similar stat-lines – were the only rookies who played in the game.

This episode continues our coverage of the 1984-85 NBA season. We encourage your interaction. Feel free to suggest specific games, moments and events from within the season, for us to cover in future episodes of the series. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. If you enjoy the content, please share it with your friends!

* Insightful minutiae, all but lost to the annals of basketball history

In this episode, we break down the thirty-fourth game of MJ’s professional career. We were fortunate to have access to the game DVD, giving us plenty of topics and moments to talk about. The Bulls were hoping to remain above .500 for the season, whilst the Knicks – losers of eight of their last nine games – had dropped six straight. Bernard King entered the game averaging 40 points a contest, in his past five outings.

Next, we discuss numerous happenings from the next 15-day block of the 1984-85 NBA season. The Chicago Bulls played seven games in this span – three wins and four losses.

We chat about one of the most unusual personnel moves of the era. The Atlanta Hawks – without three of their guards – were forced to activate one of their TV commentators to the playing roster! We also talk about the NBA’s best-performing players – including Larry Bird‘s back-to-back buzzer-beaters – milestones reached and much more.

This episode continues our coverage of the 1984-85 NBA season. We encourage your interaction. Feel free to suggest specific games, moments and events from within the season, for us to cover in future episodes of the series. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. If you enjoy the content, please share it with your friends!

Adam & Aaron celebrate the 30th anniversary of Michael Jordan‘s (1984) arrival in the National Basketball Association. This episode covers:

* NBA regular season – January 9 through 23, 1985

* Insightful minutiae, all but lost to the annals of basketball history

In this episode, we discuss numerous happenings from the next 15-day block of the 1984-85 NBA season. The Chicago Bulls played eight games in this span – four wins and four losses.

We discuss Bernard King‘s quest to become the ‘perfect basketball player’, including unique training drills that prepared him for opposition double and triple-teams. We also break down the Chicago Bulls’ inconsistency. They alternated losses and wins in this period of time. We talk about Moses Malone‘s preseason workouts with Hakeem Olajuwon, chat about the NBA’s best-performing players, milestones reached – including Larry Bird‘s 10,000th point and Lenny Wilkens‘ 1,000th game as coach – and much more.

This episode continues our coverage of the 1984-85 NBA season. We encourage your interaction. Feel free to suggest specific games, moments and events from within the season, for us to cover in future episodes of the series. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. If you enjoy the content, please share it with your friends!

Adam & Aaron celebrate the 30th anniversary of Michael Jordan‘s (1984) arrival in the National Basketball Association. This episode covers:

* NBA regular season – December 25, 1984, through January 8, 1985

* Insightful early-season minutiae, all but lost to the annals of basketball history

In this episode, we discuss numerous happenings from the next 15-day block of the 1984-85 NBA season. The Chicago Bulls played just five games in this span – two wins and three losses.

We discuss Bernard King‘s 60-point explosion on Christmas Day – still not enough to deliver cheer to Knicks’ fans. We also break down the Chicago Bulls’ splits, as they rounded out the 1984 calendar year. We talk about the Player of the Month winners for November (Alex English) and December (Larry Bird), and chat about the NBA’s best-performing players, milestones reached and much more.

This episode continues our coverage of the 1984-85 NBA season. We encourage your interaction. Feel free to suggest specific games, moments and events from within the season, for us to cover in future episodes of the series. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the show. If you enjoy the content, please share it with your friends!